After the upstart Packers took a 2-0 series lead on Perky powerhouse Collegeville in their semifinal series, the Sox came rolling right back to force Monday night’s Game Five, only to run into the hot hand of Kyle McGovern.

McGovern was sublime as he dealt with the Perky League’s top offense, allowing only one run in his six-inning complete game to extend Nor-Gwyn’s season and end Collegeville’s with a loss for the first time since 2008 in the Packers’ 7-1 win.

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“I felt really confident,” McGovern said. “Collegeville’s a great team. Beating them in Game One gave me a lot of confidence, and I just felt like we were going to come in and win.”

The Packers came in and got their offense going early, striking in the opening frame when Mike Villari came around to score on Daryl Clark’s two-out single. Though Collegeville’s Anthony Bruno held the Packers at bay in a scoreless second, momentum really began to shift in Nor-Gwyn’s favor in the third inning.

John Gyles led off the inning with a single, and after Clark popped up to third, Michael Knipe walked. Matt Blazynski flew out, and Bob Filler singled Gyles home, putting Knipe on third.

Filler drew a soft Bruno pickoff attempt — nothing out of the ordinary — but Knipe jailbroke for home and succeeded to plate the third run and truly turn the game in the Packers’ favor.

“Knipe stealing the run to make it 3-0 really set the tone for us,” McGovern said. “We coasted from there.”

“That was a huge, uplifting play,” he continued. “Knipe stealing that run really made it feel like momentum was with us.”

The Sox tacked on their only run in the bottom of the frame after Andrew Miller narrowly snuck in safely on Lenny Del Grippo’s RBI single.

Four more nails were put in Collegeville’s coffin in the top of the sixth when Blazynski’s two-RBI single, Eric Lewandowski’s sacrifice fly, and Ryan Dolan’s RBI fielder’s choice tacked on four runs to bloat the Packer lead to 7-1.

McGovern led off the home half by giving up back-to-back singles to Del Grippo and Jon McGlone, but caught a break when Del Grippo was forced out after McGlone’s blooper to shallow right-center was scooped up and tossed to second before Del Grippo could advance.

McGovern retired the next two in order to end the game after six darkness-shortened frames.

“The fact of the matter is that only one team ends the season with a win,” Letter continued. “It’s just not going to be us this year. We came back, made it a series, but didn’t have any answers for them tonight.”

“Kevin (McGovern) threw great,” Letter went on. “They’re peaking at the right time. One through nine, they’re tough outs. They make pitchers throw a lot of pitches, playing great defense, and getting great pitching. That’s a great combination.”

McGovern fanned nine Black Sox hitters in his six innings of one-run ball. He scattered five hits and walked one.

“We came through,” DiBricida said of his Packer team. “We had a rough first half, and I told them to stay in there and keep plugging, and this is the result.”

“One thing that I’ve told these guys all season is that they’re a talented team,” DiBricida went on. “I told them, ‘Don’t worry about the record. Don’t worry about any of that stuff.’”

“(We) can win this thing, and we’ve got one more round to do it.”

Nor-Gwyn will take on the winner of Tuesday’s Norristown-Skippack matchup in the finals.